The Crucible Arthur Miller WikispacesThe Crucible亚瑟米勒Wikispaces.pptVIP

The CrucibleArthur Miller Quiz Click on the symbol to go to an on-line quiz Act1 Act 2 Act 3 Act 4 Plot Summaries Act One Act Two Act Three Act Four Act One One night in 1692, Reverend Parris, the minister of Salem village, finds his daughter Betty and his niece Abigail dancing with friends in the woods. His slave Tituba is there, casting spells over a fire. Some of the girls are naked. Not surprisingly in these god-fearing times, Reverend Parris is horrified. ? The play opens a few hours later with Betty lying on her bed, seemingly unable to wake. Rumours of witchcraft are already spreading through the village. Mr Parris is terrified for the effect on his reputation. The entry of various villagers reveals a community split by guilty secrets, personal disputes and quarrels over land rights. The first villagers to enter are the Putnams and with them, the witch hunting hysteria enters the play. They demand to know how high Betty flew and reveal that their own daughter Ruth is unconscious. Mrs Putnam also reveals that she had sent Ruth to Tituba to find out who had killed her seven dead babies because, “Tituba knows how to speak to the dead.” Act One cont… When the Putnams and Parris leave. Abigail and Betty are left with Mercy Lewis, the Putnam’s servant and Mary Warren, the Proctor’s servant. It is soon obvious that Betty is only pretending to be ill because she is so scared. “You drank blood, Abby,” she cries. “You drank a charm to Kill John Proctor’s wife.” It is also soon obvious that Abigail is very much in control of the other girls. She tells them that unless they do as she says she will come to them in the night and bring them “a pointy reckoning.” Abigail tells them that she saw her own parents head’s smashed in by Indians and that she can make them wish they, “never saw the sun go down.” ? John Proctor, who has had an affair with Abigail but now wants to shake her off, enters and sends the servant girls away. Abigail tells Jo